The Sprout: Alberta rancher says herd TB cow came from will be destroyed

Good morning and welcome to The Sprout, where your host has to say that the Udderly Delicious drink, a magical blue concoction of milk and yes, booze, served at the Dairy Farmers of Canada reception last night was udderly delicious. So much so that we tracked down the recipe: 1 oz Crème de Cacao, ½ oz Bols Blue, ½ oz Parrot Bay Rum and as much milk as you want.

Now, here’s today’s agriculture news.

The Lead:

The rancher at the centre of a single case of cattle TB in southern Alberta is speaking out as 30 ranches in the area remain under a Canadian Food Inspection Agency-enforced quarantine. “The index herd, the herd the cow came from, will be destroyed,” he said. “Three-hundred-and-eighty-five cows and calves, cow calf pairs and 51 bulls and every other animal on the farm. Horses cats, dogs – you name it,” Brad Osadczuk tells Global News.

Osadczuck said CFIA officials have not told him how long the quarantine will remain in place, nor when he will receive compensation money for culled animals.

Around Town:

The National Environmental Farm Plan Summit is underway at the Westin Ottawa today, where farm groups and policy makers are in discussion around developing national targets for environmental farm plan programs.

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada consultations on the next Agriculture Policy Framework continue in the Ottawa suburb of Kanata. Today’s discussion topic is Business Risk Management.

The Canadian government will continue to fund a United Nations research agency that issued a controversial warning linking meat consumption to cancer. Health Minister Jane Philpott’s office told iPolitics Tuesday health officials insist both the International Agency for Research on Cancer and another UN agency, CODEX, provide “valuable information” and should be funded.

Philpott is also looking into reports the CFIA cut back on daily inspections in domestic meat processing plants in Northern Alberta for nearly two years because of staffing shortages. iPolitics has that story, too.

Canada’s dairy industry says it’s not scared by American warnings suggesting new rules on milk classes may violate international trade rules. Industry comments come after New York Governor Andrew Cuomo warned Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in a frank October 25 letter that a proposed milk ingredient strategy would affect New York milk exports. iPolitics has the details.

Canada’s railways say they remain ready to move Western Canadian grain despite poor harvest conditions. The Manitoba Co-operator has the story.

Internationally:

A now-deleted tweet from the Texas Agriculture Commissioner’s Sid Miller’s Twitter account used an obscene term starting with the letter c to describe Hillary Clinton. As the Texas Tribune reports, Miller first said his account has been hacked, but has since said the tweet was sent out by a staffer who did not realize the full extent of what he or she was sharing.

The Mosaic fertilizer company says it is optimistic about 2017’s economic environment, with company officials suggesting Tuesday they expect market conditions will improve after several sluggish years. The StarTribune reports.

In other Mosaic news: Company officials say the fertilizer giant is prepared to reopen its Canadian potash mine at Colonsay, Saskatchewan next year. Reuters has the details.

Consumers in Central Europe say they are tired of food companies selling sub-standard products in former communist countries. Politico has the story.

An Ottawa city councillor says tractors are more than welcome in the community of North Grower after signs banning the farm vehicle popped up in the Ottawa neighbourhood following a coding error. Turns out, it’s trucks that aren’t welcome. CBC News has the story.

Until tomorrow.

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